It's not classical...why should I know it?

If I were to ask you to tell me a little about John Philip Sousa, I am pretty confident you would tell me that he is known as the "March King" as well as some of the pieces he's written. Like "The Stars and Stripes Forever." What about Beethoven? Mozart? You get the idea.

Now...what if I were to ask you about Thelonious Monk? How about Dave Brubeck, Maynard Ferguson, Artie Shaw, or John Coltrane? Although they are not classical composers and musicians, they play a HUGE part in the world of music. No, I am not saying that we need to be guru's in the world of jazz. I am, however, saying that we at least need to know enough to keep our feet wet. A lot of schools have, or at one point had, jazz programs that either ran as a class during school or after school for fun. The names that I listed before are all large contributors to the world of jazz as we know it and our students should know them as well. In my opinion, these are some of the topics that can be brought up with your students in all band classes. Use it as a break from the norm during one rehearsal. Although jazz is not classical, it still requires a great amount of skill and technique.

Jazz is an avenue that unlike a lot of classical music, allows for a lot of creativity and even more-so composition. Think of it as an exercise of chord studies. If you were to give your students a basic 8 bar blues, its a great way to understand different chord structures as well as provide some room for improvisation.

Now. Once you get your kids accustomed to the 8 bar blues, have them work in small groups and write out different melodies. They can be slow or fast. It's their choice. The only parameters are that it has to follow one of two forms, AABA or ABAC. This will require your students to not only come up with at least two different melodies, but begin to understand the concepts of form as well. The best part of this is that this works to fulfill that ever elusive Composition standard that we all try so hard to meet.

I have one (I think) more question for you. Do you know the song This Land is Your Land? How about Shenandoah? Simple Gifts? Old Lady and The Devil?

Maybe you know a couple of them. You see, just like with jazz, we need be to comfortable enough to keep our feet wet with American folk music. This can come in many forms, but it is something that needs to be covered with your students. It will give them a better understanding of some of the history of the U.S. as well as how it pertains to them. Whether you have a choir, a band, orchestra, or even general music, there are a lot of composers out there that have arranged American folk music for all of these different settings.

So, what do I think about being experts on jazz and American folk music? I don't think we all need to be experts on it, but we as educators are responsible for providing our students with a well rounded music education.